Growing Pangs
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR
A PARENTS MAGAZINE BEST BOOK
Inspired by a true story! Eleven-year old homeschooled Katie has always felt different . . . and now she can't stop worrying. Introducing an irresistibly relatable graphic novel about friendship, anxiety, and growing up.
"An excellent companion to Raina Telgemeier's Guts and Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham's Real Friends."—Booklist, Starred Review
New Friends. New grade. New worries?
Katie's always felt different. She's homeschooled, she has freckles, and her teeth are really crooked. But none of these things matter to Kacey. They’re best friends forever—just like their necklaces say. But when they go to summer camp, Kacey starts acting weird. What happened to the “forever”? And when Katie gets home, she can’t stop worrying. About getting braces. About 6th grade. About friends. She knows tapping three times or opening and closing a drawer won’t make everything better . . . but sometimes it helps stop the worrying. Is something wrong with her? And will anyone want to be friends with her if they find out?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rising sixth grader Katie can sometimes feel like a "weirdo homeschooled kid," except when with best friend Kacey, with whom she attends a homeschool co-op and shares a love of Annie. But when the pals leave for sleepaway camp, Katie experiences increasingly anxious thoughts and a heightened "buzzing feeling in my brain," conveyed visually as a large bee that compels her to complete tasks: "You gotta make your worries stop. Move that zipper." Ormsbee (Candidly Cline) juggles competing plot threads that contribute to Katie's intrusive concerns: new friendships that awaken misgivings and joy in Katie and jealousy in Kacey, fears about a potential tongue surgery, and an awareness of her adolescent appearance, including pimples and a new haircut. In thick, angular brushstrokes, Brooks (the Sanity & Tallulah series) renders the white protagonists with simplified features and a warm palette. Tracing Katie's earnest tack to navigating friendships old and new, her growing interest in the theater, and a burgeoning understanding of her obsessive compulsive disorder—detailed respectfully throughout—the creators lend flashback-level realism to a story of one child's world growing larger with age and experience. Secondary characters are racially diverse; back matter discusses Ormsbee's and Brooks's experiences growing up with OCD. Ages 8–12. Author's agent: Beth Phelan, Gallt & Zacker Literary. Illustrator's agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.
